Crafton

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run an education firm that helps students master various local languages.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton, and what were your goals?

We needed a dynamic website with eCommerce features so our students can easily purchase our products right from the website. Our main objective was to keep things as simple as possible. Most of our students aren’t tech-savvy and hence, we wanted to keep the website easy to navigate and user-friendly. We also wanted to ensure the site would be safe to carry out financial transactions. So the website should have a firewall, 2FA, and other advanced security measures.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Our old technology partner couldn’t complete the website in the prescribed timeline and hence he recommended Crafton for this project. We assessed their capabilities by looking through their previous projects and clientele. They had built a good number of websites just like the ones we were seeking to develop - so we chose them.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We explained our whole idea - what we needed of them. Based on their understanding, they came up with a few design concepts - one of which was really good, and thus we went ahead with it. They then added the custom features to the site and also helped us integrate a few third-party apps that we needed to manage our operations.

Having them integrated with the website made a lot of things easier (it was their idea, thanks for the suggestion). Finally, they integrated payment gateway(s) to the site and as of now are testing all the functionalities of the website. Once the testing is complete, they will deploy it to the live environment.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with the project manager directly. Additionally, we were also assigned a team of senior developers, UI specialists, and QA experts who helped us along the way.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

While the website is yet to be deployed, it has been developed exactly how we wanted. The bespoke design, and simple navigation makes the website stand out. They have also taken care of the security by adding advanced security features that make it almost unbreachable. Overall, we enjoyed working with them.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

It was all very systematic. We relied on tools like Jira, and Zoom for project management and communication. They kept things transparent and notified us from time to time about the progress.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their ability to quickly comprehend our requirements and come up with amazing ideas was impressive. They were punctual, and committed. I remember there were times when I got a little late for meetings, but they patiently waited and greeted me warmly. They don’t only work for money, their ultimate aim was to satisfy us.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

They are really easy to work with and took the time to understand what exactly we were looking for and tailored their services based on our needs. So we’re happy.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

cpg company looking to build a stand-alone tech stack. I was the project lead / business owner for the new tech.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton, and what were your goals?

- WooCommerce + custom integration experience - previous developers did a poor job building techstack and it needed refinement

SOLUTION

How did you select Crafton and what were the deciding factors?

experienced developers and quick lead times on onboarding

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

build a subscription techstack on WooCommerce and launch it across multiple markets. this includes custom integrations with various operational tools.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

1 business manage 1 senior dev 1 PM (but was not needed) 2-3 engineers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Very happy working with Crafton to stabilize and refine/ enhance our tech stack for a new product launch. Their development team is very attentive and seems to be able to understand our business needs quite well.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Crafton assigned a PM to the project- but this role was not needed. We brought various tools to the project (JIRA, Pantheon, etc), but they recommended a few enhancements (e.g. Gitlab for safer code deploy). Thus far timelines have been met.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Very responsive. High performing developers- who are very communicative.

Are there any areas for improvement?

more structure around estimates and KPIs for dev work (we are adding these in now, but moved quickly at the outset of your projects). also having devs who advise on best practice (e.g. a Technical Lead) would have helped in the beginning (we are also adding this role to the team).

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Saysimple is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company, revolutionizing the way companies get and stay in touch with their customers through new and emerging channels. Our Customer Contact Management platform provides customer contact professionals with the technology they need to manage inbound- and outbound customer conversations.

I work at Saysimple as Marketing Lead. I play a vital role in driving demand for Saysimple’s customer contact platform. My main goal is to grow our business by planning, designing and executing successful B2B lead generation campaigns to fuel the inbound marketing funnel and achieve our business objectives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton, and what were your goals?

We hired Crafton to develop a highly converting Wordpress website. The goal was to create a site that was both suitable on the front- and back-end of the website. We've provide Crafton with KPI's in terms of website speed, and together with the Saysimple Design team, they also Crafton in website conversion.

SOLUTION

How did you select Crafton and what were the deciding factors?

We've made a list of Wordpress agencies in Europe. We've looked at hourly fee's, international presence, the clients they work for and the company website because we believed this was the place where a web agency should really show-off.

Crafton fee's are very respectable, they have offices around the world, have some good quality clients in their portfolio and we liked the website design; they showed-off in just the right places and it wasn't drawing the attention form what you were looking for.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Back in 2017 we've started out with a video call with our PM and main developer on Crafton side. We told them what the aim was with our website.

From there, we started the design phase. We did the design in-house and checked with the Crafton dev to see if what we wanted design-wise was convertable to a website.

Once the designs were ready, I created a planning together with Crafton PM. Every two weeks we had a stand-up with Saysimple design, myself, Crafton PM and Crafton Dev. This went on until Crafton delivered on time.

For me, this was a very pleasant way of working because we could truly provide Crafton with our vision, and it helped us to truly get the best and result.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Over the years I worked with three different PM's, and three different developers. One by one, they delivered fantastic and the working relationship was (and is) still great.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The main KPI was site speed and therefor we've used Google Pagespeed Insights. De desktop version need to score between 90 and 100 points and at delivery we scored 96. We were pleased with this result.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

I communicate with Crafton PM via Slack and email. But I guess you can ask them to use your preferred channel. Slack and email happend to be my preferred channels, so it was fine by me. Other tools are GitLab, Trello and Google Suite. These were also choses based on my preference.

I've been working together with the Crafton team on our new pricing page. Due to vacation time in the Netherlands I was really depending on Crafton development to turn like a sketch I've made (with a pencil on a paper and photographed it) into the page we currently have. Crafton delivered to the occasion.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They handle questions in an efficient and flexible way. If I ask something in the Slack channel I get a reply within minutes. It is not that we agreed on a SLA or something so this shows me they ar willing to go the extra mile.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The only thing I can think of is that I've worked with 3 different PM's. But every hand-over went smoothly because I never felt like I had to explain what I wanted with the site.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder of Pragmatic Brains, the IT consulting company which helps its clients to deliver excellent software products.

Pragmatic Brains is based in the Netherlands and hires 30+ high skilled developers. Our clients are based in the EU, e.g. Norway, UK, the Netherlands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton?

We are prepering to launch our new product on a market, therefore we need a new website. As well as new ui/ux designs for the product. We already worked with a desging agency but we were not satisfied with them.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to introduce our product to our clients and help us sell the product. From the other site we wanted the website to be easy to update on our end.

As for the ui/ux design for the product we needed our old designs to be fix and we also needed new designs for new features and cproduct components.

SOLUTION

How did you select Crafton?

We were not happy with the creative agency we were working with that's why we were looking for a new one. Crafton has been recomended by another vendor we worked with. We described our problems and needs to Crafton, they prepared solution which we accepted.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected Crafton, we had video call meeting to discuss our goals and needs. We received first mockup of the home page shortly. After 2 or 3 iteration we accepted the design and we moved to designing next subpages.

The whole process went very smooth. We had a status meeting once a week and we were constantly in touch via Slack. As for the ui/ux design for our product we were and are constantly in touch with Crafton designer. We have video calls with him 2- 3 times a week to discus new features and changes to designs.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a Project Manager to support us and serve as a main point of contact throughout the projec. The were also ui/ux designer and 2 developers involved in the project. We were able to talk to all of the to beter claryfy of mission and goals.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our new web site is almost done and will be lounched when the product is ready. We are very happy with new ui/ux designs of our product. They are user-friendly, modern and definitly not dull. Now you know you are dealing with a first class product.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager organized status meeting with us and their team once a week. We were also communicating via Slack. Once we had questions it was no problem to organise meeting more often.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was in awe of the knowledge that Crafton had about web design, user experience and optimalization. Thanks to Crafton we have created a beautiful and interactive website. Also organization of the project was great.

At every moment, everyone knew what to do and what the next step would be. We are still working with Crafton on our product's ui/ux design.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't come up with anything right now.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are one of the largest insurance companies in Poland. We are represented by 3,000 employees, more than 3.6 million individual customers and companies representing small and medium business, as well as major corporations. We insure every second largest company in Poland.

Our dynamic growth is reflected by the fact that every 13 seconds we issue a new insurance policy. Every year we bring help to 480 thousands of damages - every minute we make a decision to pay compensation.

Non-life insurance are offered under three brands. I am responsilble for e-commerce activties of mtu24.pl and youcandrive.pl (direct insurance sales).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton, and what were your goals?

Our primary goal for all the projects we created with the help of Crafton was creating new websites based on Wordpress which are more suitable for our business model (direct sales with mtu24.pl and You Can Drive).

SOLUTION

How did you select Crafton and what were the deciding factors?

Crafton won the tender we organized, in which they presented a very good offer and the most interesting vision.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

While working with Crafton we ad hoc requested many projects from which all of were completed on time, with a satisfactory amount of feedback and communication. They delivered to us several web services, applications, and online solutions.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team composition was highly dependent on the kind of project we had in mind but we always could rely on a trustworthy Project Manager who stayed on top of the whole process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our work with Crafton resulted in many different projects that satisfied us. Every other project was making us more visible and known on the internet.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Flexilble with great understanding. They adjust their workflow to our goals.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Crafton's designs, knowledge on new technologies, and cooperation are all impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None that I could think of.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on March 25, 2019.

Marketing Specialist, Insurance E-Commerce Platform

Insurance

501-1000 Employees

Sopot, Poland

$200,000 to $999,999

July 2014 - Ongoing

Project summary: 

Crafton developed an e-commerce platform from scratch using React, WordPress, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Feedback summary: 

Customer satisfaction is high, the platform works well, and conversions are strong. Crafton’s effective project management and communication have built a strong partnership.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing specialist for an insurance e-commerce platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We wanted to develop an e-commerce platform to showcase our different types of products. We needed something that was visually appealing at a decent price.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Crafton built our e-commerce platform from scratch. They’ve used React, WordPress, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They helped us understand the business objectives and user needs to turn our idea into a product. They managed UI/UX elements, design, development, and testing. We’ve launched and they now maintain it while developing additional functionality.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around 10 people over the years including project managers, designers, and developers.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

They were recommended by our internal team, which was already working with them on other projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2014, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Customer satisfaction with the platform is high, and it works very well. Users can navigate easily, and conversions are high.  

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

The whole product was well managed. They’re a trusted, “go-to” partner for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their effective communication is most impressive. I don't have to worry about the project. We've been working together for many years and they know how to work well with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think so. At the very beginning, we gave them feedback about what could be improved. We’re satisfied with the whole process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them and give them a detailed vision of your product so that they know what kind of benchmarks you want to use.

Star Ratings

Overall rating: 5

Quality: 5

Schedule: 5

Cost: 5

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a brand activation company, seeking to attract customers to our website. I am working here as a Strategy specialist.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton?

We already had a website, but not good enough to attract the brands and various customers. However, we believe our website was as generic as we can find any other brand activation website and was majorly missing on the customer engagement and user experience part. Hence, we hired Crafton to enhance our website with a focus on user experience.

What were your goals for this project?

To generate leads, to attract new customers, and retain the current ones.

SOLUTION

How did you select Crafton?

One of my friends had a great customer experience with Crafton who recommended us to opt. for this if we are genuinely seeking to see timely and amazing results.

Describe the project in detail.

Revisiting our brand website, enhancing customer/user experience, and keep maintaining the website as an on-going process

What was the team composition?

Project Manager Web designing team Customer Experience Experts Customer Support SEO team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

we have generated good orders from our website for various highlighted brand activation (customer experience) services that we are offering.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Everything was pre-planned and aligned and it was smooth going and an amazing experience

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Every contact person is easily available and each progress of the activity was reported and transparent

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything was more than perfect as our focus was to have timely results and we did it

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1000 stores in Europe. I work as performance specialist and one of my responsibilities is running campaigns on price comparison websites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton, and what were your goals?

We had a problem with effectively managing the campaign budget due to the lack of an internal tool at one of our suppliers. Our goal was to have a tool that would allow us to quickly and efficiently create campaigns and have data in one place.

SOLUTION

How did you select Crafton and what were the deciding factors?

We chose them through research. We were convinced by their vision and professional approach to the project as well as comments on the further development of the tool.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Based on an interview with us and the provided notes they created a preliminary sketch of the tool. Then, in a few rounds of corrections, they refined it to best meet our requirements.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

3 people including 1 project manager and 2 developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The project has been launched according to the schedule. Within 6 months, thanks to the tool, we managed to increase the channel efficiency by 32%

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

He was always on schedule. Their answers have been fast and comprehensive. Communication via email and phone.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Day by day support, understanding our problem, flexibility regarding our comments

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Based on the relatively low complexity of the project, I do not see any weaknesses so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the head of digitalization for the Poznan International Fair. Poznan International Fair is a leader in a trade fair industry in Poland. Our portfolio includes more than 100 brands. It also includes B2B events, aimed at professionals, and B2C trade fairs – large events and local festivals. They are attended by guests from all over the world

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton, and what were your goals?

This is long-term cooperation lasting almost 8 years. During this cooperation, they provided all kinds of digital services. They created our main corporate website, website templates for dozen of fair events, and dedicated web applications.

SOLUTION

How did you select Crafton and what were the deciding factors?

They were chosen in a public tender back in 2012.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

During our cooperation, they delivered to us several web services, applications, and online solutions. Their services were complex, from UX analysis and design to the development. For every project, they presented a number of mockups and ideas. They put a great emphasis on User Experience. They provided proper research, wireframing and usability testing.

Ones of the most important projects they did for us: Main site of the Poznan International Fair - from the design, trough usability testing and development of the front-end. The most important here was usability and informative aspect of the site.

A dedicated web application press.mtp.pl. It generates accreditations for the press on the events organized by Poznan International Fair. It helps the media to get an entrance on events and informs about them. Here, the back-end system based on PHP was provided.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

For every project, the team that was delegated to our tasks was build in a way, that there was at least one specialist in each field. It included project managers, UX designers, web designers, front-end and back-end developers. We've been in touch with an Account Manager as well as the founder of the company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The cooperation with Crafton resulted in many different projects that satisfied us. Every another project was making us more visible and known on the internet. Also part of our renown and credibility was build thanks to their work.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

After so many years, cooperation with Crafton team doesn’t require much contact as the work goes smoothly. But in any case, our contractor was available, presenting to us the progress, or introducing our ideas to the team. We usually contact with the phone. Meetings are not really required as what they do is always clear and transparent.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The most impressing thing is the relationship they build with their client. Trust is the most important thing they base on. Combined with their professionalism it is an excellent and sure choice for us. This is the company that other companies should learn from.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No. Their work satisfy us till today.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager at a chemical company in Poland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Crafton?

We were pushing a new brand and we were looking for someone to help us in creating a new, complex website with additional landing pages for the new product. We wanted it to have a custom CMS system so that we could easily customize landing pages.

At the very beginning, we looked to see if there was a product in the market that would fulfill our needs but after doing market research, we realized we needed something more custom-based, and that’s why we brought on Crafton.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Crafton developed a custom CMS that allows us to easily build and manage our additional landing pages. In the future, we plan to move out of the different websites and landing pages that we have into this particular system. 

They provided us with the design. We had a preliminary scoping session where we discussed the scope, and they made recommendations based on our needs. They recommended PHP and Laravel. 

For the frontend, they used Vue.js. They also created the design for the main page of the product that we’re about to launch soon. They will continue to support us.

What is the team composition?

We worked closely with the dedicated team including a project manager, a lead developer, and a lead designer. The team size was dependent on the stage of the project but overall, there were 5–6 people.

How did you come to work with Crafton?

We reached out to a couple of companies and chose Crafton because we were in proper alignment with them. We saw their portfolio and that they’d done similar projects. The business development manager is very friendly and knowledgeable. 

Craftondidn’t jump out right away with a proposal; they said they needed to do the scoping session first. All of that was very impressive. They seemed to know what they were doing and were very flexible, so they seemed to be the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May–November 2020. The support will continue through 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Crafton provided an end-to-end solution for us. The team was very helpful, and they clearly defined our needs and business goals. They were able to deliver according to our needs. Our content creators and editors find the product very user friendly. We already know that it will be much more cost-effective.

How did Crafton perform from a project management standpoint?

We estimated that the project would be done in 3–4 months, and what I liked about Crafton was that they told us it would take much more time if we wanted to have the proper results. They made it clear and were quite transparent about that. We accepted the new timeframe when we signed the agreement. 

In the end, they managed to deliver the solution within the given timeframe. The whole process was pretty flexible, and they met the budget as well. There were no surprises with the budget. The project manager was responsible for day-to-day communication, and everything worked like a charm. 

The whole project was done remotely due to COVID-19. We had weekly meetings, but we used Slack for day-to-day communication. If needed, we also had group phone calls and conferences. Even though we worked remotely, communication was very smooth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were transparent throughout the whole process. Their approach of always seeing the big picture was impressive. They had a good process and workflow that helped with the design goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t point to any specific areas for them to improve. I like working with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them. I’m very confident in them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Technical Product & Project Manager at a digital marketplace built on the blockchain to create independent access to a new age of capital markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Crafton, and what were your goals?

We wanted help in development of our product. We needed help in Frontend development of some components built in ReactJS.

SOLUTION

How did you select Crafton and what were the deciding factors?

They quoted less price and estimated very short time for the completion of work.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We gave them the task to develop a few codebases for us. Codebases include dashboards, investment flow, signup flow. We started with kickoff meetings in which we presented our business idea and prototype wireframes (all designs). The deliverables were set according to the designs.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

According to them, 3 people. 1 Project Manager and 2 Developers.To

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Their services were pathetic! I don't regret anything more professionally than hiring them for these tasks. 90% of the components had problems and we had to fix all this in house. We had to hire one in house developer to fix the mess.

They always used to shift sprints work to the next one and tried to charge us more money to prolong the cooperation.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Communication was good from their project manager, but it was too optimistic, which includes false promises. We have always got all our deliverables late.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

That how they assure you all work will be done and on time. But it doesn't happen.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Yes. For the starters, they can start saying the truth when the tasks will be finished. And also, would be great if they complete what was given to them without shifting the work to next sprints and ask for more money.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on November 30, 2020.

This review serves as a private vendetta and does not represent the opinion of the company. Crafton delivered a complex project for this company in 2018. The project has been delivered with very good quality and within the agreed timeline. We have gained an appreciation from the company's Co-founders - they have spoken highly of us on our Social Media. (examples: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5txccpe18g1scf/stokr%20copy.jpg?dl=0).

In 2020, we worked with this reviewer, a low-level Project Manager, who offered us his private development services as a side hustle of his. Unfortunately, he was not able to deliver anything of good quality and failed to deliver the work in the agreed timeline. We have requested a refund of the down payment that we have made. As a part of his private vendetta, he has decided to undermine our reputation by issuing this unfair and untrue review (not to mention that in November 2020, he is issuing a review for work that we have delivered in 2018).

We have informed the reviewer's superiors about his conduct and are waiting for their swift reaction.